Hey all,
I'm the one who posted a couple of days ago with the "potential new IDI owner" subject. I'm still working a deal on an '84 F350, standard cab, 4x4, single rear wheel truck. I just found, tonight, an '86 F250, xtra cab, 4x2 with a turbo on it. As we all know, 86s didn't come from the factory with a turbo. I'm going to look at this truck tomorrow and would like all y'alls opinion on the plusses & minuses of these two. These are my plusses & minuses, if you see a glaring miss, please pipe up!

Plusses for the 84:
Manual tranny.
4x4.
One ton w/9,000 GVWR.
New glow plugs.
New belts.

Minuses:
Body a bit rough, tailgate doesn't work, AC disconnected, totally disconnected, no belts, no hoses.
*28,000 miles. 5 digit. Could be 128k or it could be 428k for all I know.

Plusses for the '86:
Xtra cab.
Turbo (unknown make, will check it out mañana).
95,xxx miles (6 digit he claims).
New glow plugs.
New timing belt (they have belts & not chains?)

Minuses:
Ugly purple color (OK, that's not really a minus, but I don't like the color)
Auto tranny (what came stock in these? What should I look for? OD? Non OD?)
4x2
Unknown GVWR rating for the truck, will find this out tomorrow when I look at it.

I need a truck that will haul, comfortably, a 7,000 pound loaded (with horses) trailer. I have an '82 Chevy, 3/4 ton, 6.2 diesel, 4x2, auto (700R4) truck that *does not* like to pull the 3,500 pound empty trailer. I hooked up the F350 over the weekend to the empty trailer and it felt like the truck didn't even know the trailer was there.

What do you guys think? Is a 250 with an auto tranny beefy enough to haul my daughter's horse(s) without the tranny giving up the ghost? We can always take another vehicle if we need to pack more than 3 of us inside the cab, but I sure like the thought of having a back seat. Is it just a spring/shock difference between the 250 & 350 or is it the entire truck (assuming the vintage of trucks I'm talking about)? Heavier duty axle(s) in the 350?

Thanks for helping this neophyte out!

Mike

 

New timing belt (they have belts & not chains?)

They have gears.


Unknown GVWR rating for the truck, will find this out tomorrow when I look at it.

It should be around 8600 to 8800

I need a truck that will haul, comfortably, a 7,000 pound loaded (with horses) trailer. I have an '82 Chevy, 3/4 ton, 6.2 diesel, 4x2, auto (700R4) truck that *does not* like to pull the 3,500 pound empty trailer. I hooked up the F350 over the weekend to the empty trailer and it felt like the truck didn't even know the trailer was there.

What do you guys think? Is a 250 with an auto tranny beefy enough to haul my daughter's horse(s) without the tranny giving up the ghost? We can always take another vehicle if we need to pack more than 3 of us inside the cab, but I sure like the thought of having a back seat. Is it just a spring/shock difference between the 250 & 350 or is it the entire truck (assuming the vintage of trucks I'm talking about)? Heavier duty axle(s) in the 350?

The old C6 auto are pretty tough.

I would rather have the 4x4 and the manual trans.


Most parts on the 250's and 350's will be the same because your 350 isn't a cab and chassis.



Thanks for helping this neophyte out!

Mike[/QUOTE]

 

3 things about an 86....

1) They have a 5 digit odo
2) The auto will be a C6 (3 speed), I believe. Nearly a bulletproof tranny - but no OD.
3) They don't have a timing belt OR chain - timing components are gear driven

The F250 should have more than enough umph to handle the horse trailer - especially since it has the turbo.

 

i wouldn't get a 4x4 unless i needed it, to me it's just more to worry with. I also like an automatic, the c-6 is a stout trans, but alot of folks don't like an auto.
what about gearing? see how many revs your turning at 60, if you have 4.10's you may want to improve the radio.

 

Ummm, let me interpret. I think what he meant to say is that if you have 4.10 gears, you may want to improve your gear ratio. While a better radio might be easier to hear over the sound of the high engine RPMs 4.10s will run on the highway, it would only be masking the problem - not really solving it

 

Hehe, I caught the radio/ratio in the previous post but hadn't considered the fact that the radio may be to drown out the noise :-)

Thanks all. I'm betting that this 86 does not have a turbo on it based on the guy claiming it was a 6 digit odo and that he had just had the timing belt replaced. We'll see this afternoon. I'm looking at it before the Duck game at 5:00 my time. If it does have the turbo it's going to make my decision harder for sure.

Thanks again,
Mike

 

Well, if you count the 1/10 mile digit they ALL have a 6-digit odo

As for the timing belt thing, it sounds like he has someone do the work on it for him, and if they changed all the belts and checked the timing, I could see him misinterpreting that easily enough.

If it does have the turbo on it, and it works, that would make the decision pretty easy for me. Having one with and one without, and seeing what a difference it makes, the turbo alone would tip the scales for me.

As for the color, meh, I wouldn't let that stop me. You can get used to just about any color - even HUSKY purple. The body condition would be much more important to me personally.

 

I meant radio, thought ratio and left it for fun

 

Check the block heater frost plug hole on the 84, it's over the starter. The BH have a tendancy to crack the block if used. The block crack CANNOT be fixed, I don't care what any seller states. If the block heater is/has been disconnected and never used you could be ok. Ask the seller if he knew that.......

 

OK all, quick update:
I went and looked at the 86 F250 today. It does have an ATS turbo installed. There's a little fitting on the firewall that feeds oil to the turbo it looks like. It's leaking oil. Doesn't look too bad. It is a 5 digit odometer as CheaperJeeper pointed out above. It's claiming 95,xxx miles. He gave me the name of the mechanic who put the turbo on the truck back when it had 86k original miles. It's got a bit over 100k on since. I'll be in touch with the mechanic to get more info.

RPMs at 60 mph indicated: 2,400 (plus or minus a bit). It is the 3 speed auto tranny. Tire size on the rear is 235-85-16.

The front tank leaks and is unusable, the rear tank is not taking fuel nicely at this point (I read an article or two a while back on slow filling and will search for that again if I end up with this truck). Rear tires are about 20%. Fronts are about 75%.

On another note, based on PCL7.3's advice above....the 82 F350 with no turbo does have an AC plug dangling out of the grill. It's cut off and taped to the negative battery cable on the passenger side. If I look at that truck again I'll check to see where the block heater went to see if there are any issues with a cracked block.

Both of these trucks are in the $2k range although both of them are going to be trades of some sort at this point.

I do like the sound and feel of the 250. I don't think there's a muffler on the truck, it was getting dark so couldn't verify and kickoff was coming up (crappy game if you're a Duck fan for sure).

The GVWR from the door of the 250 was 8,800 I think. Not enough of a difference to matter for my needs (hauling that 7k# trailer with horses).

Both are supposed to have new glow plugs. Thoughts? At this point I'm leaning towards the newer 250 with turbo, but I haven't talked to the mechanic yet. Should I be able to expect a fair bit more mileage out of the 250 with the turbo? What should I check out on the truck before agreeing on a trade? The brakes felt pretty soft to me. I had to give them more foot pressure than seemed reasonable. I read a few posts recently w/regard to master cylinders so will check that out too.

Again, sorry for the long post, and thanks for all who read & advise.

Mike

 

In the early 80 models the only difference between an F350 and an F250 was the spacer between the springs and axle on the rear.
F250 had 2" spacers.
F350 had 4" spacers.

Never seen a factory F250 dually, either the dually axle was swapped in or it has spacers on the rear axle.

Gear driven oil pump, cam and IP on the diesel, timing chains and belts are gasser motors.

Turbo would be a strong selling point for me.
84 block issues would be a strong minus for me.

C6 and T19 both have the same final drive ratio.

Dually will tow a trailer better, it will be much more stable in the corners.

86 F250 should have 8600 GVW on the sticker on the drivers side door rear pillar.